Editing Citizenship (section)

===Modern times===
The modern idea of citizenship still respects the idea of political participation, but it is usually done through elaborate systems of political representation at a distance such as [[representative democracy]].<ref name=tws2Y17/> Modern citizenship is much more passive; action is delegated to others; citizenship is often a constraint on acting, not an impetus to act.<ref name=tws2Y17/> Nevertheless, citizens are usually aware of their obligations to authorities and are aware that these bonds often limit what they can do.<ref name=tws2Y17/>

====United States====
{{Main|Citizenship of the United States}}
[[File: Oil on Canvas Portrait of Dred Scott (cropped).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Dred Scott, the plaintiff in the infamous ''[[Dred Scott v. Sandford]]'' case at the Supreme Court of the United States, commissioned by a "group of Negro citizens" and presented to the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, in 1888]]
From 1790 until the mid-twentieth century, [[Law of the United States|United States law]] used racial criteria to establish citizenship rights and regulate who was eligible to become a naturalized citizen.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-jul-04-mn-9708-story.html|title=A History of U.S. Citizenship|date=July 4, 1997|website=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=21 September 2016}}</ref> [[Naturalization Act of 1790|The Naturalization Act of 1790]], the first law in U.S. history to establish rules for citizenship and naturalization, barred citizenship to all people who were not of European descent, stating that "any alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the [[United States]] for the term of two years, maybe admitted to becoming a citizen thereof."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=226|title=A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875|publisher=The Library of Congress|access-date=21 September 2016}}</ref>

Under early U.S. laws, African Americans were not eligible for citizenship. In 1857, these laws were upheld in the [[Supreme Court of the United States|US Supreme Court]] case ''[[Dred Scott v. Sandford]]'', which ruled that "a free negro of the African race, whose ancestors were brought to this country and sold as slaves, is not a 'citizen' within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States," and that "the special rights and immunities guaranteed to citizens do not apply to them."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/60/393#writing-USSC_CR_0060_0393_ZO|title=Scott v. Sandford|date=1857|website=Legal Information Institute|publisher=Cornell University Law School|access-date=21 September 2016}}</ref>

It was not until the abolition of slavery following the [[American Civil War]] that African Americans were granted citizenship rights. [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution]], ratified on July 9, 1868, stated that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html|title=Constitution of the United States: Amendment XIV|date=1868|website=The Charters of Freedom|publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration|access-date=21 September 2016}}</ref> Two years later, the [[Naturalization Act of 1870]] would extend the right to become a naturalized citizen to include "aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Naturalization_Act_of_1870|title=Naturalization Act of 1870|website=Wikisource|publisher=U.S. Congress}}</ref>

Despite the gains made by African Americans after the Civil War, [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], [[Asian Americans|Asians]], and others not considered "free white persons" were still denied the ability to become citizens. The 1882 [[Chinese Exclusion Act]] explicitly denied naturalization rights to all people of Chinese origin, while subsequent acts passed by the US Congress, such as laws in [[Naturalization Act of 1906|1906]], [[Immigration Act of 1917|1917]], and [[Immigration Act of 1924|1924]], would include clauses that denied immigration and naturalization rights to people based on broadly defined racial categories.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://library.uwb.edu/static/USimmigration/1917_immigration_act.html|title=1917 Immigration Act|website=US Immigration Legislation Online|publisher=University of Washington-Bothell Library}}</ref> Supreme Court cases such as ''[[Ozawa v. the United States]]'' (1922) and ''[[United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind|U.S. v. Bhagat Singh Thind]]'' (1923), would later clarify the meaning of the phrase "free white persons," ruling that ethnically Japanese, Indian, and other non-European people were not "white persons", and were therefore ineligible for naturalization under U.S. law.

Native Americans were not granted full US citizenship until the passage of the [[Indian Citizenship Act]] in 1924. However, even well into the 1960s, some state laws prevented Native Americans from exercising their full rights as citizens, such as the right to vote. In 1962, [[New Mexico]] became the last state to enfranchise Native Americans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/elections/voters9.html|title=Elections: Native Americans|website=Library of Congress}}</ref>

It was not until the passage of the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952]] that the racial and gender restrictions for naturalization were explicitly abolished. However, the act still contained restrictions regarding who was eligible for US citizenship and retained a national quota system which limited the number of visas given to immigrants based on their national origin, to be fixed "at a rate of one-sixth of one percent of each nationality's population in the United States in 1920".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/immigration-act|title=The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (The McCarran-Walter Act)|website=The Office of the Historian|publisher=U.S. Department of State}}</ref> It was not until the passage of the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]] that these immigration quota systems were drastically altered in favor of a less discriminatory system.

====Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics====
{{Main|Soviet nationality law}}
The [[Soviet Russia Constitution of 1918|1918 constitution of revolutionary Russia]] granted citizenship to any foreigners who were living within the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]], so long as they were "engaged in work and [belonged] to the working class."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/constitution/1918/article2.htm|title=Article 2 (R.S.F.S.R. Constitution)|website=www.marxists.org|accessdate=Mar 5, 2023}}</ref> It recognized "the equal rights of all citizens, irrespective of their racial or national connections" and declared oppression of any minority group or race "to be contrary to the fundamental laws of the Republic." The 1918 constitution also established the right to vote and be elected to [[Soviet (council)|soviets]] for both men and women "irrespective of religion, nationality, domicile, etc. [...] who shall have completed their eighteenth year by the day of the election."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/constitution/1918/article4.htm|title=Article 4 (R.S.F.S.R. Constitution)|website=www.marxists.org|accessdate=Mar 5, 2023}}</ref> The later constitutions of the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] would grant universal Soviet citizenship to the citizens of all [[Republics of the Soviet Union|member republics]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/36cons01.html|title=1936 Constitution of the USSR, Part I|website=www.departments.bucknell.edu|accessdate=Mar 5, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/77cons02.html#chap06|title=1936 Constitution of the USSR, Part I|website=www.departments.bucknell.edu|accessdate=Mar 5, 2023}}</ref> in concord with the principles of non-discrimination laid out in the original 1918 constitution of Russia.

====Nazi Germany====

[[Nazism]], the German variant of twentieth-century fascism, classified inhabitants of the country into three main hierarchical categories, each of which would have different rights in relation to the state: citizens, subjects, and aliens. The first category, citizens, were to possess full civic rights and responsibilities. Citizenship was conferred only on males of [[Germans|German]] (or so-called "[[Aryan]]") heritage who had completed military service, and could be revoked at any time by the state. The [[Reich Citizenship Law]] of 1935 established [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|racial criteria for citizenship in the German Reich]], and because of this law Jews and others who could not "prove German racial heritage" were stripped of their citizenship.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw3.html|title=The Nuremberg Laws: The Reich Citizenship Law (September 15, 1935)|website=Jewish Virtual Library}}</ref>

The second category, subjects, referred to all others who were born within the nation's boundaries who did not fit the racial criteria for citizenship. Subjects would have no voting rights, could not hold any position within the state, and possessed none of the other rights and civic responsibilities conferred on citizens. All women were to be conferred "subject" status upon birth, and could only obtain "citizen" status if they worked independently or if they married a German citizen (see [[women in Nazi Germany]]).

The final category, aliens, referred to those who were citizens of another state, who also had no rights.

In 2021, the German government passed a law that entitled victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants to become naturalised German citizens.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Amt |first=Auswärtiges |title=Restoration of German citizenship (Article 116 II Basic Law) |url=https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/02/citizenship/restoration-of-german-citizenship/2463592 |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=uk.diplo.de |language=en}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=Title of cited sourse is confusing|date=September 2024}}

====Israel====
{{main article|Israeli citizenship law}}
The primary principles of Israeli citizenship is ''[[jus sanguinis]]'' (citizenship by descent) for Jews and ''[[jus soli]]'' (citizenship by place of birth) for others.<ref name="safran1997">{{cite journal|first=William|last=Safran|date=1997-07-01|title=Citizenship and Nationality in Democratic Systems: Approaches to Defining and Acquiring Membership in the Political Community|publisher=SAGE Publishing|journal=International Political Science Review|volume=18|issue=3|pages=313–335|doi=10.1177/019251297018003006|s2cid=145476893|doi-access=free}}</ref>

====India====
{{main article|Indian nationality law}}
Indian Citizenship Act, 1955,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Citizenship Act, 1955 |url=https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/1522/1/a1955-57.pdf |website=National Informatics Centre, India}}</ref> the first law in Indian history to establish rules for citizenship are ''[[jus soli]]'' (citizenship by place of birth), ''[[jus sanguinis]]'' (citizenship by descent), [[Indian nationality law#Voluntary acquisition|citizenship by registration]], [[Indian nationality law#Voluntary acquisition|citizenship by naturalization]] and citizenship by incorporation of territory.